Sunday, October 01, 2006

More to the Story?

Mark Foley's behavior was wrong, disgusting and reprehensible. It is good that he resigned. And it's an instructive contrast between Republicans and Democrats that the Republican leadership demanded Foley's resignation, whereas the Democrats were willing to go right along with sexual wrongdoers in their own party, ranging from Gerry Studds to Mel Reynolds to Bill Clinton.

Clarice Feldman has amassed some facts that suggest that there is partisan maneuvering behind the unveiling and reporting of the scandal. It will be interesting to see if any MSM outlet follows up on what seems like an orchestrated attempt to smear -- not Foley, who's done an excellent job of disgracing himself -- but the rest of the Republican House leadership.

At least our side admits our mistakes and steps down. Remember that when Rep.Studds was censured he turned his back on the chamber as the resolution of censure was being read. He would not face up to what did and continued to maintain he did nothing wrong. His crime was the SAME as Foley's, improper relatinship with a congressional page, remember that?

Duke-Stir, Dont forget aboutGerry Eastman Studds who represented the 10th U.S. House District of Massachusetts from 1973 to 1997. Read this excerpt from a Wikipedia article on Studds.

"On July 20, 1983, Gerry was censured for having an affair 10 years earlier with a male page. He turned his back as the charges against him were read. The anti-gay crew had worked hard to demonize him Gerry held a press conference with the page and admitted to a relationship. They each firmly stated that what had gone on in their bedroom was their business, and absolutely no one else's."

"Gerry was easily reelected in 1984, making him the first openly gay member of Congress and the first gay member of Congress to be reelected. He won 5 more terms after that, and retired in 1996."

Let's face it, there's an overwhelming amount of hypocrisy on both sides. Pointing out examples from one side or the other (a rather simple endeavor by anyone with access to the internet) likely does little more than fuel increasingly heated discourse by those drawn to extremism. The vast majority of sensible, moderate Americans just grow more disgusted - and less trustworthy of both politicians and pundits.